U.S. Grants 30-Day Waiver Allowing India to Receive Russian Oil Cargoes Already at Sea

The U.S. Treasury Department has issued a temporary sanctions waiver allowing Indian refiners to receive Russian crude oil cargoes already loaded on tankers, a narrowly targeted move aimed at preventing disruptions to global energy markets from the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz while limiting financial benefits to Moscow

The authorization, issued Thursday by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Russia-related General License 133, permits transactions necessary for the sale, delivery, or offloading of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products loaded on vessels on or before 12:01 a.m. EST on March 5, 2026. The waiver expires at 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 4, 2026.

Under the terms of the license, the cargoes must be delivered to ports in India, and the purchaser must be an entity organized under Indian law.

The authorization also covers operational services typically required to complete a voyage, including bunkering, crewing, vessel management, piloting, insurance, classification, salvage, and port services, as well as actions needed to ensure vessel safety, crew welfare, and environmental protection.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the measure is designed as a limited stop-gap to allow oil already in transit to reach market while preventing additional revenue flows to Russia.

“President Trump’s energy agenda has resulted in oil and gas production reaching the highest levels ever recorded,” Bessent said in a statement posted on social media. “To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil.”

Bessent emphasized that the authorization applies only to cargoes that had already been loaded before the cutoff date.

“This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government as it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea,” he said.

The Treasury chief added that Washington expects India to increase purchases of American energy in the coming years.

“India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of U.S. oil,” Bessent said. “This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to take global energy hostage.”

According to shipping association BIMCO, India accounted for roughly one-third of its seaborne oil imports from Russia in 2025, representing about 25 percent of Russia’s total seaborne crude exports.

India had already begun scaling back purchases of Russian crude earlier this year. BIMCO data shows imports from Russia fell 34 percent year-on-year during the first five weeks of 2026, as new sanctions restrictions and shifting trade dynamics began to reshape global energy flows.

For tanker markets, the temporary waiver could allow a limited number of vessels carrying Russian cargoes—potentially including ships from the parallel or “shadow” fleet used to move sanctioned oil—to complete voyages already underway without violating U.S. sanctions rules.

However, the license explicitly states that it does not authorize transactions involving Iran or Iranian-origin goods or services beyond those strictly necessary to complete the permitted deliveries.

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